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Crete is the centre of the Minoan civilization, which is marked by the building of Knosos and other palaces. Mycenaeans take over Knosos in 1450 BC.

Undaunted by these heroic failures, Crete rises again in 1866, with a self-appointed Cretan Assembly declaring independence and union with Greece. The Turks bring in Egyptian troops to quell the rebels, but in Europe there is growing sympathy for the Cretan cause.

A portrayal of the veneration of the infant Jesus (Museum of Religious Art, Irakleio).

A treasury of Minoan relics, including tablets inscribed with the still undeciphered Minoan Linear A script, has been discovered on this site of an L-shaped Minoan villa, built about 1700 BC. The site was later occupied by Mycenaean settlers, who built a megaron (chief’s hall) and a village with a unique row of porticoed shops.

Excavated by Italian archaeologists at the beginning of the 20th century, Agia Triada is smaller than other Minoan sites such as Knosos and Phaestos and was probably an aristocratic villa or a royal summer palace. Some of the finest Minoan pottery, including three carved stone vases, was discovered here and is displayed in the Irakleio Archaeological Museum. Agia Triada is only 3 km (2 miles) west of Phaestos, so can easily be visited on the same day. Because Agia Triada receives fewer vistors than the larger sites, you can explore its honeycomb of stone corridors, stairs and courtyards at your own pace.

This 13th-century Byzantine Church of the Ten Saints stands on the spot where ten Cretan Christians were martyred by the troops of the Roman Emperor Decius in AD 250. A striking icon depicting the ten saints with golden haloes is displayed in the nave.

This church has a history that reflects Chania’s past. It was built by the Venetians, converted into a mosque after the Turkish conquest, and in the early 20th century converted again into a Greek Orthodox church dedicated to St Nicholas. Its minaret is a relic from the centuries of Muslim worship here.

Turn right immediately after the Loggia to find Agios Titos (St Titus). Originally Byzantine, the church was rebuilt by the Venetians, turned into a mosque by the Turks and reclaimed by the Orthodox church in 1925. Inside, a reliquary contains the skull of St Titus.

Knosos was pinpointed as an important archaeological site by the great Heinrich Schliemann and unearthed by British archaeologist Arthur Evans less than 100 years ago. The columns, courtyards and coloured frescoes of this ancient Minoan palace still have the power to amaze. Knosos was lost to history after the cataclysmic volcanic eruption that destroyed the Minoan civilization, but the site is now one of the most impressive relics of the vanished world of the Minoans (see Ancient Knosos).